Merche’s eyes evoked the frost of midwinter.

Those eyes, resembling blue topaz and quite pleasant to look at, somehow sent chills down Genovefa’s spine.

It was… indifference. Thoroughly unconcerned and cold.

Devoid of even a shred of emotion, the uncomfortable gaze quietly swept over Genovefa from head to toe.

“Your words are not entirely wrong. I do not have the urge or will to kill you.”

But what if… Merche turned her head, her words trailing off like mist. And in that moment, a change occurred.

Spring had arrived in the barren winter where warmth was nowhere to be found. The snow that had covered the entire ground melted, and sprouts grew and bloomed.

Before long, flowers were in full bloom in Merche’s eyes. Genovefa gazed at that miraculous sight as if enchanted.

“Would that man’s heart be the same as mine?”

Merche straightened her bent knees as she watched Rude approaching from the other side.

At the sound of footsteps that had grown too close to ignore, Genovefa also saw him belatedly.

Like a frightened beast, Genovefa let out an unsightly panting sound. It couldn’t be helped.

No matter how much she wished to maintain her noble demeanor until the very end, it was difficult to remain unaffected even when faced with the torturer who had been inflicting terrible pain on her all along.

A stray dog without an owner. A hideous beast that only seeks to bite anyone. That was how Genovefa regarded Rude.

But now, at this moment, the Rude she saw was different from a stray dog or a beast.

“Why are you here?”

With his long legs, Rude stood in front of Merche in just a few strides.

His thick eyebrows were raised diagonally, and his tone with an upward inflection seemed fierce at first glance, but there was certainly an inexplicably docile aspect to it.

As if displeased that Merche had come to this filthy and dirty place, his eyes, alternating between Merche and the prison surroundings, were deeply furrowed.

Then, Rude finally looked in Genovefa’s direction.

“Don’t tell me you even exchanged words with that thing?”

“We had a brief conversation.”

“Why would you do such a thing, wasting time? Instead of that, go up and stuff another piece of meat into your mouth.”

Nothing but bones left, yet you’re running around so busily with that body.

Rude grumbled and muttered. Genovefa glared at him as if witnessing a very grotesque scene.

−Try cutting it this time…, you can’t cut the throat.

−Why do you keep yapping annoyingly? Shut that stinking mouth before I burn it all.

−Right, you should have lived your life more gracefully. Aging so bitterly like that is why you end up in this state.

During a time when Genovefa couldn’t even tell how many seasons had passed without a window, she only saw Rude persecuting her as if possessed by an evil spirit.

There was not a day when disgust and anger did not frost over in his crimson eyes that resembled him, and because of that, there was not a day when Genovefa did not bleed.

When Genovefa couldn’t endure the suffocating pain and let out a scream, Rude would spit out curses, saying his ears hurt, and continued the torture.

That’s the kind of bastard he was. A bastard who had never acted like a human being even once.

However, the Rude standing in front of Genovefa now showed no trace of that cruel torturer’s appearance anywhere.

He preciously held Merche’s hand as if handling a pudding that would crumble if squeezed, and only placed words on his tongue that had been filtered through a sieve to remove any harshness.

Only after going through all those efforts did Rude speak.

“Go and brew the tea leaves you like, don’t bother looking at unsightly things here. Why are you even talking to that dirty thing? It only dirties your eyes.”

He tried to drag Merche away while still holding her hand.

“No. I haven’t finished talking to this person yet.”

At that moment, Merche let go of Rude’s hand and walked towards the iron bars.

Lowering her upper body again for Genovefa, who couldn’t even stand on two feet, she whispered a question.

“Why did you inflict such wounds on Rude’s hands?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“The burn wounds. I know they are wounds you inflicted.”

Genovefa bit her lips.

For some unknown reason, the back of her neck felt cold. As if the underground chill had seeped in, a cold sensation rushed into her bones.

It was as if some unknown person was whispering in her ear.

Don’t say it. If you tell the truth, you will die. You will be trampled to death.

“…Yes. I did that.”

Gritting her teeth to shake off the auditory hallucination, Genovefa spoke.

Die? How dare that wench try to kill him?

There was no way. The Merche he knew was frail and foolish, unable to take anyone’s life.

Eyes widened with defiance looked up at Merche with a vile smile.

“Because the stud did not fulfill its duties. Even though we accepted a lowly slave as a bloodline, it did not show gratitude and only acted out. So I personally educated it.”

“…You intended to use Rude as a stud?”

“What else? Did you think I would put such a lowly and stupid thing in the position of the family head? It should spread its seed to a noblewoman capable of suppressing the lowly blood, and let that seed grow and inherit the position of the family head!”

As he continued to speak, Merche’s eyes gradually darkened.

Not realizing that the deep blue color, as if containing the deep sea, was judging him, Genovefa pounded the floor with his fist in outrage.

“That’s how it should have been…, but that lowly thing ruined everything by imprinting on you. The seed born from you will have flaws and will devour the future of the Lupinus for generations, a mere slave-born bastard has ruined this Lupinus…!”

Merche did not say a single word.

Only the chilling aura enveloping her revealed her frozen heart.

After a long silence, Merche straightened her lowered body and stood up.

“I said I couldn’t kill you.”

It was a very clear voice.

Genovefa, who had been grumbling, slowly raised his head. There was Merche.

With a faint smile on her lips as if painted with a brush, gazing at him indifferently.

“No. You were wrong.”

Merche thought of Karin.

When she was imprisoned in this dungeon in the past, Karin was nearly thrown into a pack of wolves and died.

It was only after a considerable amount of time had passed that she learned it was under Genovefa’s orders.

How could any words describe the devastation she felt upon hearing about that day’s events?

Merche still vividly remembered the sensation of her heart being torn out, as if crushing her body in a brief moment.

That memory, neatly folded and left in a corner of her mind, was revived today and heated Merche’s blood.

“Rude. What happens when a member of the Lupinus family who has lost control is surrounded by wolves?”

“They die. Without control, how can they survive among them?”

“Would it be a painful death, enough to understand the suffering and fear of the innocent lives they have killed so far?”

“Of course,”

It would be filthy painful. Rude, who was about to reply immediately, trailed off and looked at Merche.

He’d have to slap his cheeks a couple of times to believe this was real. He couldn’t be sure if what he felt was right. In a hurry, Rude quickly asked again.

“So what you’re saying is…, is what I think correct? That I can throw that damned old man to the wolves?”

Merche was lost in thought for a moment. Then, tilting her head slightly, she asked.

“Would it be too excessive of a retaliation?”

“…No. Excessive? That would be a gift for that bastard.”

Rude couldn’t hold back his rising smile and laughed crudely.

What else could that question mean?

It was Merche’s permission and implicit request to drag out the trash inside that iron cage and kill him.

At least in this area, his head, which had nothing to lose, was spinning so tightly that it felt like it would fly off.

“I’ll specially order them to chew on him for a long time without cutting off his breath. How about that, good?”

“There’s no need to be that cruel…, but if that’s what you want.”

“Yeah. I want it. I want it so badly that I’m going crazy.”

“Then do as you wish, Rude. I feel the same way as you.”

Unable to contain his joy, Rude kissed Merche’s cheek, rubbing his lips against it.

Finally, the time had come to take the life of the bastard whose death he had been dying to bring about, to the point where his breath was wearing thin with regret.

“…Wh-, what are you saying? How dare you say you’ll kill me? You, a mere wench like you! The wench I took in and raised!”

Genovefa, who had heard their entire conversation, went berserk and shook the iron bars, but it only made a clanging noise and was of no use.

If anything, the vile words of disparagement he spat out only fueled Rude’s anger twofold.

Bang! Rude, with ominous eyes, kicked the iron bars violently.

“Shut up, before I kill you right now.”

Genovefa instinctively realized that the one he had to face was not Rude, but Merche.

He desperately crawled sideways, grabbed the iron bars again, and cried out to Merche.

“Merche, Merche! How dare you try to kill me!”

Genovefa’s struggle was persistent.

Even when Rude kicked him several times, telling him to shut his mouth, and threatened to kill him, that tenacious cry did not easily cease.

In the end, the underground commotion only subsided after Rude entered the cell by opening the iron bars and knocked Genovefa unconscious.

“…Don’t mind him. Those who don’t want to die are always annoyingly like that.”

Worried that Merche might change her mind and pity Genovefa in the midst of this chaos, Rude hurriedly spoke.

His impatience and anxiety led him to completely deny Genovefa’s words.

“Anyway, it’s not you who’s killing that bastard, it’s me, and everything that bastard said is trash. How dare he? Who did he take in and raise? He has a talent for talking nonsense, really.”